Alterations in LMTK2, MSMB and HNF1B Gene Expression Are Associated with the Development of Prostate Cancer BMC Cancer 2010, 10:315
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Harries et al. BMC Cancer 2010, 10:315 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/10/315 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access AlterationsResearch article in LMTK2, MSMB and HNF1B gene expression are associated with the development of prostate cancer Lorna W Harries*1, John RB Perry2, Paul McCullagh3 and Malcolm Crundwell4 Abstract Background: Genome wide association studies (GWAS) have identified several genetic variants that are associated with prostate cancer. Most of these variants, like other GWAS association signals, are located in non-coding regions of potential candidate genes, and thus could act at the level of the mRNA transcript. Methods: We measured the expression and isoform usage of seven prostate cancer candidate genes in benign and malignant prostate by real-time PCR, and correlated these factors with cancer status and genotype at the GWAS risk variants. Results: We determined that levels of LMTK2 transcripts in prostate adenocarcinomas were only 32% of those in benign tissues (p = 3.2 × 10-7), and that an independent effect of genotype at variant rs6465657 on LMTK2 expression in benign (n = 39) and malignant tissues (n = 21) was also evident (P = 0.002). We also identified that whilst HNF1B(C) and MSMB2 comprised the predominant isoforms in benign tissues (90% and 98% of total HNF1B or MSMB expression), HNF1B(B) and MSMB1 were predominant in malignant tissue (95% and 96% of total HNF1B or MSMB expression; P = 1.7 × 10-7 and 4 × 10-4 respectively), indicating major shifts in isoform usage. Conclusions: Our results indicate that the amount or nature of mRNA transcripts expressed from the LMTK2, HNF1B and MSMB candidate genes is altered in prostate cancer, and provides further evidence for a role for these genes in this disorder. The alterations in isoform usage we detect highlights the potential importance of alternative mRNA processing and moderation of mRNA stability as potentially important disease mechanisms. Background early onset cases of prostate cancer (< 55yrs) are caused Cancer of the prostate is the most common male malig- by inherited factors [2], highlighting the importance of nancy in the Western world, accounting for 25% of all genetics in this disorder. Early-onset prostate cancer that male UK cancers (taken from http://info.cancerre- aggregates in families is likely to result from the inheri- searchuk.org/cancerstats). Although survival rates are tance of rare genetic variants that have a large impact. increasing, cancer of the prostate remains the second Several strong risk factors have been identified from fam- most common cause of cancer death in UK men after ily studies which include mutations in the ELAC2, RNA- lung cancer. Several risk factors have been identified, the SEL and MSR1 genes involved in immune response [4] main factors being age [1], family history [2] and ethnic and the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes involved in the devel- origin [3]. Prostate cancer is uncommon in men under 50 opment of breast cancer [5]. years old, but 80% of men aged over 80 years were found Despite increases in the understanding of the familial to have cancerous cells in their prostate at the time of forms of prostate cancer, the aetiology of the remaining death [1]. Estimates suggest that between 30 - 40% of all 60% of cases remains unclear. The advent of genome wide association studies (GWAS) has resulted in a dramatic * Correspondence: [email protected] increase in the number of susceptibility loci that have 1 Institute of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, Peninsula NIHR Clinical Research Facility, University of Exeter, Peninsula Medical School, Barrack Road, Exeter, been associated with the development of prostate cancer Devon, UK (table 1). Four independent studies in the Icelandic, UK Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2010 Harries et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Harries et al. BMC Cancer 2010, 10:315 Page 2 of 12 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/10/315 Table 1: Loci that have been identified as significant determinants of prostate cancer risk in four independent genome wide association studies. Gene Location Marker MAF Post replication P value Position within gene Source HNF1B 17q21.3 rs4430796 0.479 9.58 × 10-10 IVS2 [7,8,34] rs11649743 0.479 1.7 × 10-9 IVS4 MSMB 10q11.2 rs10993994 0.339 8.7 × 10-29 5' UTR [8,9] 7.31 × 10-13 LMTK2 17q25.3 rs6465657 0.438 1.1 × 10-9 IVS9 [9] SLC22A3 6q26-q27 rs9364554 0.233 5.5 × 10-10 IVS5 [9] CTBP2 10q26.13 rs4962416 0.229 1.70 × 10-7 IVS1 [8] MYEOV 11q13 rs10896449 0.492 1.76 × 10-9 Intergenic, 5' to gene [8] JAZF1 7p15.2-p15.1 rs10486567 0.267 2.14 × 10-6 IVS2 [8] MAF = minor allele frequency in the HapMap CEU population. and American populations have identified more than 20 tissues, and whether their expression was influenced by distinct genomic locations as being implicated in suscep- genotype at the GWAS risk variants. Seven genes were tibility to prostate cancer [6-9]. selected for study (figure 1). We measured the total or Many of the GWAS association signals identified are isoform specific gene expression of the JAZF1 (JAZF zinc located in regions of the genome that are not translated finger 1), CTBP2 (C-terminal binding protein 2), LMTK2 into protein. This may indicate that the associated marker (lemur tyrosine kinase 2), SLC22A3 (solute carrier family is in close linkage disequilibrium with an uncharacterised 22 extraneuronal monoamine transporter, member 3), variant in the protein coding region, or that the func- MYEOV (myeloma overexpressed), MSMB (microsemi- tional SNP may cause its effect by epigenetic or histone noprotein beta) and HNF1B (HNF homeobox 1 beta) in a modification. The other possibility is that the variant may cohort of 39 non-malignant benign prostatic hyperplasia act at the level of the messenger RNA. (BPH) samples and 21 prostate adenocarcinoma samples, There are several mechanisms by which variants in and correlated gene expression with cancer status and non-coding regions of the mRNA transcripts could affect with the genetic variants identified in the GWAS (table gene function. Firstly, if the variant lies in the promoter or 1). We demonstrate two of the eight variants are corre- 5' untranslated region of the transcript, it may interfere lated with gene expression levels in non-malignant pros- with the efficiency of transcription or translation, as has tate tissues, and that the presence of adenocarcinoma is been shown to be the case for several human and rodent associated with altered gene expression levels and differ- genes [10-12]. Variants located within the intronic ential expression of alternatively processed isoforms for sequences may interfere with mRNA splicing [13]. The three of the candidate genes in prostate tissue itself. production of aberrant splice products has previously been shown to be very important in the aetiology of can- Methods cer in general [14,15], but may contribute to the biologi- Subject Details cal heterogeneity of prostate cancer in particular [16]. The prostate samples in this study were obtained from Finally, polymorphisms located in the 3' untranslated the Exeter tissue bank, and comprised prostate chippings region may disrupt regulatory elements necessary for taken during routine transurethral resection of the pros- mRNA stability, interfere with regulation of translation tate (TURP). Both cancer and BPH groups originated by microRNAs or influence the polyadenylation dynam- from a population of older men treated for urological ics of the transcript [17-19]. problems at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, Exeter, In this series of experiments, we sought to investigate UK and were predominantly of Caucasian origin. Sam- whether the genes suggested by the GWAS for prostate ples were flash frozen in liquid nitrogen upon removal, cancer were differentially expressed in malignant prostate and stored at -80°C until required. Subjects with benign Harries et al. BMC Cancer 2010, 10:315 Page 3 of 12 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/10/315 1 2 3 4 JAZF1 (NM_175061) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 SLC22A3 (NM_021977) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 LMTK2 (NM_014916) 1 2 MYEOV (NM_138768) 1 2 3 4 MSMB1 (NM_002443) 1 2 4 MSMB2 (NM_138634) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HNF1B(A) (NM_000458) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 HNF1B(B) (NM_001165923) 1 2 3 4 HNF1B(C) (NM_006481) 1a 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 CTBP2(1) (NM_001083914) 2b 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 CTBP2(2) (NM_022802) 1b 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 CTBP2(3) (NM_001329) 1c 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 CTBP2(4) (AK290390 ) Figure 1 Schematic representation of the structure of transcripts studied here. The structure of the JAZF1, SLC22A3, LMTK2, MYEOV, MSMB, HNF1B and CTBP2 mRNAs are represented here, together with their RefSeq ID numbers. Exons are represented by numbered grey boxes. The black box represents the section of exon 3 absent from isoform HNF1B(B). The section of intronic sequence present in HNF1B(C) is indicated by a hatched box. prostatic hyperplasia (n = 39) had no sign of prostate and Gleason scoring by dissection of the TURP chips and malignancy at the time the samples were taken, and none subsequent histological examination of tissue from either had received a subsequent diagnosis of prostate cancer 5 side of the sample used for RNA analysis.